We were wondering if that sign from the Plano, Texas Chick-fil-A declaring that Jim Henson Creature Shop toys had been recalled due to safety concerns was legit, so we got in touch with Chick-fil-A P.R.

When pioneering (for America!) female astronaut Sally Ride passed away yesterday, the company she founded issued a press release noting that she was survived by "her partner of 27 years" Tam O'Shaughnessy. And Tam O'Shaughnessy is a woman. Weird, huh? Wait, there's more.

The Dark Knight Rises star Christian Bale popped by the Medical Center of Aurora on Tuesday afternoon, more or less unannounced, to visit with victims of Friday's movie-theater shooting. Above, via TheDenverChannel.com, Bale with Carey Rottman; below, via KUSA, Bale in the hallway.

Prosecutors in New Jersey have accused Voorhees police officer Jeffery Tyther of abusing his power after he allegedly used a law enforcement database to learn personal information about a passing female driver so he could stalk her on Facebook.

Today, MTV announced that it's relaunching its show of deep thoughts about a shallow industry — House of Style, the Cindy Crawford-hosted video magazine that ran from '89 to '99, is set to return to the network on Oct. 9. The new host (or "muse," as they say) will be announced on the red carpet of the MTV Video Music Awards, which will be held Sept. 6.

Yesterday it was revealed that HBO may have fudged some of the critical acclaim The Newsroom was receiving, but now it may have lost the one man unbowed by the naysayers and willing to effusively praise it each week. HBO curbed its screener release at episode four, and so America's most visceral recapper's stint is over for now.

Salon's Mary Elizabeth Williams is America's least necessary cultural critic. Reading a Mary Elizabeth Williams column on any topic in the news is like sticking a needle full of SUPER SWEET SUGAR WATER in your veins and pushing the plunger until you say "Blaaaauuurrrrgghhhhpablumpablum." Does Mary Elizabeth Williams have something unnecessary—so unnecessary that it would have been a net gain to humanity to say nothing at all—to say on the topic of our recent Very Sad Aurora Movie Theater Shooting Tragedy? Yes of course she does. If you had hoped to avoid it, you lose.

A notice reportedly posted at Chick-fil-A restaurants across the country claims the company has voluntarily recalled the Jim Henson Creature Shop toys it recently began including in Kids Meals due to "a possible safety issue."

TMZ is reporting that Sherman Hemsley, who played George Jefferson on The Jeffersons and All in the Family, has died. Hemsley, who was born in South Philadelphia, was a postal worker before becoming a full-time actor. After a stint on Broadway, he was cast as George Jefferson in All in the Family by Norman Lear, the legendary producer; from there, the character was spun off into The Jeffersons, which ran for more than a decade. No cause of death has been announced.

Gay marriage became legal a year ago in New York today, and to commemorate the event, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Council Speaker Christine Quinn announced that New York City alone made $259 million from all festivities that the 8,200+ gay-marriage licenses spawned. That's over three times what Brokeback Mountain grossed at the domestic box office. Gay pays.

I imagine that in the past, Fire Island provided a real sense of security for gay men (and women – they're there, just mostly confined to Cherry Grove, which neighbors the male-centric Pines section of the island). I can see the former necessity of a place where they could go and be their gay selves without worrying about persecution.

Musical video collective cdza return to take you on an insightful audio-visual journey through the history of wooing women in music.

Faced with the arduous task of following the 2008 Beijing Games' jaw-dropping opening ceremony spectacular, hailed by many as the greatest event ever even though it exposed the world to the singing voice of an ugly little girl, the organizers of the London Olympics have adopted the curious tactic of making it up as they go. They seem to be under the impression that, as in a brainstorm, there are no wrong answers when it comes to the planning of a live televised event that will be recorded in the annals of history and watched by millions around the world.

Like any person with functioning ears, I am inclined to hate Kreayshawn, but with "Go Hard," she's hitting really close to the hypnotic inanity of the entire reason why anyone still talks about her in the first place, her breakout track, "Gucci Gucci."

Think back to the summer of 2008, when city-dwellers and scientists were all vexed and perplexed by the hook-nosed carcass stinking up the craggy shores of Long Island. Later dubbed the Montauk Monster, the apocryphal stories emerged about secret nuclear animal test centers and, for a brief instant, New York appeared to have its next biggest tourist attraction since Stomp! [UPDATE: New speculation received in the last hour tells us this is no goddamn pig.]

We beseech you, gentle reader: please remove your children from the room before you "click" on this latest bit of alarming news from the womb of America. The bloom, we fear, is completely off the rose; the delicate flower of womanhood, once concealed from prurient eyes by modest burlap sackcloth and lack of enfranchisement, is today being flaunted in short-shorts like just another cheap commodity. What are bawdy tarts doing these days, when they're not busy inadvertently teaching your child about vaginas? They're having babies—without their husband's permission.

I can't decide what's more impressive: That there's dog capable of executing a command as involved as "carry the cat home," or that there's cat patient enough to allow a dog to carry it home.

The new Tumblr Blingees In Memoriam is a collection of animated Blingees made in memory of people and animals. It's one of those things that are impossible not to share, no matter how bad you feel doing it. Rest In Peace. Rest In Peace. Rest In Peace. Rest in Peace. Rest In Peace. Rest In Peace. [via Garbageperson/Twitter]

Torrence Brown, Jr., who was in attendance at the Aurora midnight screening of The Dark Knight Rises, has filed a lawsuit against Century 16 Theater, alleging that they are partly to blame for the outcome of Friday's shooting which resulted in the death of 12 patrons.

Finnish computer security researcher Mikko Hypponen seemed a bit overwhelmed when we reached him on his cell phone at London's Heathrow airport this morning.